One Call Away
by kracken23
Summary: Kara meets a caliber of enemy she's never faced before. The power goes out in National City-lights, electricity, cars, phones, and Kara, all shorted out with a weaponized EMP. Kara has to rely on more than just herself to save the day. (Rated T for language, nothing freaky). Love the Kara/Alex sister dynamic, so will probably play that up a little bit (again, nothing freaky).
1. Chapter 1

Kara had known James Olson to be a lot of things, clumsy was not one of them.

Mr. Smooth-talking, know what to say and when to say it, photo-taking right-hand-man of not one but two renowned superheroes, clumsy? Never. But here he was, fumbling loudly with the keys in the dark.

Albeit, he was doing so one-handedly. His other hand was preoccupied, wrapped gingerly around her waist. Despite the circumstances, Kara gave a small grin. How many times had she fantasized a scene similar to this one—pressed against James Olson, breathless, him hanging on to her for dear life, as they eagerly rushed into her dark apartment?

Of course, that fantasy was remarkably more romantic than the scene she was involved in now.

"Damn it!" James cursed, quietly. He had given up on trying to single out the key to the front door, and instead was unceremoniously jamming each individual key into the lock, one at a time. "Why don't you just have a skeleton key?" He calmed his voice, referring to the innumerable amount of Catco keys crammed onto to one ring. "Or keep your house and work keys separate—aha!" The tumblers in the lock finally gave way and the handle turned.

He led her inside, swinging the door behind them but never turning around to see if it actually shut.

"Candles—fridge." She muttered as he dragged her past the kitchen and to the couch, navigating around furniture in the dark. " _Ah!"_ she hissed as he lowered her down.

"Keep pressure," James ordered, replacing her hand where his had been holding the wadded up cloth to an open wound on her side. "What?" he registered she had said something.

She repeated through gritted teeth, "Candles. Fridge."

Even in the darkness, she could feel his blank stare, "…You keep candles in the refrigerator?"

Kara had never known James to be stupid either, so she could not suppress a pained snort, "There are candles on top of the fridge, James."

"Oh." He said absently, and got up to find them, taking his phone back out of his pocket to try and convince it to power on. Again.

Kara let her small smile fade, sinking deeper into the folds of the sofa, and momentarily taking her mind off the pain she was in and onto the real problem, and when it started an hour ago. The blackout was incredibly strange—even for National City.

... _Earlier..._

She had been at CatCo when it happened, putting in some late hours to make up for some much needed work the DEO was siphoning off of her. The crime scene was quiet, so Supergirl was quietly sitting at her desk, typing furiously, when everything had just blinked off—the lights, her computer, and later she would discover her cell phone and DEO comms were also, mysteriously, off. James had been late at work, editing tomorrows headline photos of a new Lord Technologies Eco-tech prototype release, when his tablet died and desk lamp went out, and he emerged from his office to see the silhouette of Kara at her desk, scratching her head and toying with her blank-screened cellphone.

"Where's Winn when you need him?" James had joked as Kara stood to make her way over to him.

"At home where any sane person would be at this time of night," Kara flashed her signature cheesy grin, only visible by the light of the moon coming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows.

He shrugged, "Maybe it's a sign, telling us to get the hell out of CatCo." He tried to check his wristwatch for the time, only to find its digital face blank. He tapped it absentmindedly, "Huh. That's strange."

"Tell me about it, my cell won't turn on either. Can't wait to see what Ms. Grant's reaction to me not responding to her last text will be."

"Kara?" James had made his way towards the window and looked out at the city below them.

As she approached the window her jaw dropped a little.

Blackness. Every light, every street lamp, everything was off.

"Not a cloud in the sky…I wonder what knocked the power out."

"Out of everything," he added, nonchalantly waving his dead tablet, "You might want to get out on the street. People are bound to panic."

She gave a nod and turned on her heel, fingers already undoing the buttons of her blouse to reveal a familiar blue underneath, "It's quiet." She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Well it's one a.m. on a Wednesday—"

"No, James, I mean it's quiet. I can't hear what's going on outside." He noticed a familiar squint on the outline of her face—X-ray vision—as she spun in a circle where she stood, hands still at second to last button of her blouse.

Wordlessly, she grabbed a tin of paperclips from a nearby desk and unwound a single clip, and pressed it firmly to the tip of her finger, " _Ow_! Uh-oh." She turned back to James, "My powers' out, too…"


	2. Chapter 2

"We need to get help." James said, softly, watching helplessly as Kara's face twisted in pain.

Kara couldn't stop the sarcastic huff, " _I'm_ supposed to _be_ the help."

"Lay down." He was crouching in front of her, features illuminated by the dozen candles he'd strewn over the coffee table.

"James, it's fine—"

"No. You're not fine." He brought his fist down on the coffee table, several candles wobbled in response. " _None of this is '_ fine'."

In his mind he still sees her body landing on the asphalt, still hears the strangled noise she makes on impact. She was only unconscious for a few seconds, but the sight of Kara Danvers' body, motionless and broken, even for 8 or 10 seconds, would haunt him for a lifetime.

He moved to touch her, to get her supine so he could see her injuries better, but she squealed at his hands on her shoulders, " _Ngh!_ James, please stop!" He withdrew his hands, somewhat wounded. He could not stop the crippling worry etched on his face. As Supergirl, Kara was damn-near indestructible, and his stomach still knotted when she was in danger. But without powers, Kara was invariably weak—even a little weaker than the average 20-something female, and brittle, somehow smaller. It terrified him.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry." He was crouching in front of her again. "You need Alex," he muttered. Alex would know what to do, how to help. James rubbed his eyes. He had no way of contacting Kara's sister, and no way of getting Kara to the DEO headquarters. Whatever had killed the power, it had killed EVERYTHING run on a current—including motor vehicles. It was a miracle James had maneuvered the wounded Kara to her apartment, as she refused to be carried, but now moving her from here would be impossible without help. It seemed the adrenalin was wearing off and Kara was becoming more and more cognizant of the wounds that had been inflicted on her.

"But it's not like we can take a cab. Unless you want to ride in the basket of a bicycle, Alex is just going to have to come to us." And James knew that Alex would go looking for her, when Supergirl did not make a timely appearance in the city to help during to the blackout.

"Was that an alien joke?" Kara whispered, her eyes closing, "I find that highly offensive."

"Kara, open your eyes." James demanded softly, "Look, I need to where you're hurt."

"It's okay, I'll be fine, I just need to rest for a minute." Kara was not entirely sure what was broken, just certain that it was something important.

"Kara, I'm serious. If you pass out, I _will_ take you to the hospital, secret-identity be damned."

"James." Kara did her best to give him a stern look. She was not forthcoming with her injuries, mostly because there was literally nothing he could do. A hospital could not help, even if they stuck a giant ass Band-Aid on her, human drugs would not work on her, and nor would human blood in the case of a transfusion, which she wasn't sure she needed anyway. The DEO had some specially formulated drugs just for Kryptonians, namely sedatives, and even a prototype painkiller that her liver would not immediately metabolize, but she'd be damned if she had any way of getting to them.

She was awkwardly seated, her ankles crossed uncomfortably on the floor, the pillows of the sofa holding up 100% of her weight. Both her arms crossed over her midsection, one pressing against her ribcage to help her inhale, the other holding her blouse from work—which was serving as a bandage to help staunch the slow but steady flow of blood coming from her side, so she sat wearing her Supergirl uniform and her 'loud-colored, cheap' work pants, as Cat referred to them. In fact, Cat would be happy to know that the pants were terribly stained and ripped, and therefore would not be surviving the night.

It seemed that Kara could not support her own head, and it was resting against the back of the couch, so that she looked at James through heavily-lidded eyes. In the candlelight, he was positive there was blood on her face.

"Do you have a first-aid kit?"

Her words were getting slower, "Never really needed one."

He stood, padded to the kitchen, and returned with a dishtowel. As tenderly as possible, he pressed it to where he thought was bleeding on her temple.

The noise she made surprised him—she whimpered. But—but this was Kara, Girl of Steel, heart-on-her-sleeve, smile on her face, alien superpowered superhero…and she just whimpered. "I know, I'm sorry." His voice was almost as soft as his touch.

Kara was sad by the way he was looking at her—like she was broken. It wasn't unlike the look he gave her when she saw him and Lucy together. A look of equal parts guilt and pity, like she was a puppy at the pound he couldn't take home. God, she resented that look—he probably didn't realize he'd made it.

"It's okay." She muttered. And then she smirked. "I finally get you alone in my apartment, and look at what happens…"

"Kara?"

... _Earlier..._

Kara was certain their descent on the stairs was going to kill her. At the bottom of the twenty-some odd stories she doubled over, heaving. James clapped a hand on her back, "Man, I would hate to see you go _up_ the stairs."

"Har har." Kara wheezed as she straightened and they made their way to the emergency exit of Catco.

On the street, the pair stopped, dumbfounded. Cars were stopped in the middle of the street, a few people were standing around, looking lost. Kara had a passing thought, glad that whatever this was happened in the middle of the night, not during the day when the streets were crammed with people when their cars suddenly died.

She and James started to walk down the sidewalk, both inspecting their surroundings.

"This is freaky. What could have shut everything off?" she asked, "The lights, our phones…me."

"Maybe an electrical storm? Or a magnetic field shift of some sort? Though, I don't see how your powers are similar to a circuit breaker."

"I've got to get to Alex." Alex would know what to do.

James pointedly brushed a lock of sweat-drenched hair off of Kara's forehead—he'd never seen her sweat before—from their trek in the Catco stairwells, "The DEO is not really within walking distance, Kar."

"No, she doesn't work tonight. Actually, she was supposed to be on a date." Kara had a second passing thought—if Alex _had_ gone on a date, maybe Kara and James better not show up at her apartment announced. "I—do you feel that?" The hairs on her arms were standing erect and there was a bizarre tingle in her palms and neck, and the insides of her ears…itched?

"What?" James asked.

She was about to say something else as they rounded to corner to the small park, but a movement in the night made her stop.

"What the hell?" James managed before a dark force picked him up and threw him into a nearby car.

"James!" Kara screamed, and then she was airborne. Spinning, spinning, spinning, and stopping. That last part was the least fun. She ended in a roll, slowing to a stop on the dew-covered grass. "Ugh."

She scrambled to her feet, facing her attacker. Or at least she thought. She wasn't sure, it was so dark. Somewhere in the initial attack her glasses had flown off her face. Out of habit, she unbuttoned and discarded her blouse. Before she could discard her trousers, it dawned on her how many seconds it was taking to become Supergirl—oh, yeah, no super-speed. No super anything. Just Kara.

"Kara!" James had shakily removed himself from the photojournalist-shaped dent in the hood of the Escalade, and was trying to get to her when attack number two came.


	3. Chapter 3

"Kar, you really look like crap."

"Aw, you're too sweet."

"I mean it. There has to be somewhere we can go, your sister's place?"

"It's on the other side of the city—"

"I'll carry you."

"I—I don't think I could stand to be carried." That statement resonated with James. That was Kara admitting that something was seriously wrong. Kara had taken on a minute shiver, that went through her body every few seconds, and now along with her quick breaths came a low keening sound.

"Okay. Shh, just hang on."

... _EARLIER..._

Kara could _feel_ whatever her opponent was, feel it prime for each attack. Though she could not see it, and it did not speak, she could feel it. Feel its hate, feel its sneer, feel it breathe nails-on-a-chalkboard down her neck. She couldn't hear it, but she could feel it growl _"El. Zor-El."_

The first few time it sent her flying it was like it was playing; like how kids toss water balloons up and down a few times before lobbing them so they burst. James was futilely chasing her around where she landed, never quite catching up, even as she pleaded for him to flee.

The first two tosses skinned her a little. Up in the air, then down on the grass.

The third toss, she was positive, broke her arm. She was sent through the window of a Prius.

And then the fourth attack came. The hot electricity in her palms and neck and back molars, she could feel it, _"El. Death to the House of El. The House of the Damned."_ And this one was different; the energy was harsher, more caustic, and lifted her up, and up, three stories at least.

She had never been afraid of heights. Not when landing on Earth, not when traversing the ocean, not when dodging DEO test planes, not even when she fell from several hundred feet into the sea, after saving National City from a bomb. But now she hung in the air, a measly three stories up, the pulling, biting, seething energy that carried her made her scream in pain as her skeletal muscles involuntarily contracted, now she felt fear. _El._

The energy constricted, she felt a bone somewhere snap, maybe two, and she was discarded in a hyperbolic arc—flying, flying, flying, falling—and after the drop came the stop.


	4. Chapter 4

Kara had never considered dying on her own couch. What a stupid way to go.

But here she was, James Olson standing over her with that damned look on his face.

She had never actually thought of how she would die. Some big battle with some big evil after which she would sacrifice herself to save the day and a memorial in her likeness would be erected? Nah—that wasn't her thing. At a ripe old age surrounded by her family, her children as she parted words of wisdom? That was a snort-worthy pipe dream. But just as ordinary Kara, helpless, on her _sofa_? That was insane! Choking on a pot-sticker would have at least been funny, but no, she just got the living snot kicked out of her.

Nothing was "flashing before her eyes". Not the life she's led or the people she'd met. There was no montage of defining moments reeling with a Cold Play song. She also never considered what her last thoughts would be about. Her life as a superhero? Her mother? Her accomplishments on Earth? Her cousin? Missed opportunities with James Olson as he watched on?

No, she was thinking of Alex, and how absolutely pissed she was going to be.


	5. Chapter 5

Alex Danvers had been out of her element—and in a dress—when the lights went out. Well, if the lights had been on, they would have gone out at least. What really happened was the screen projecting a special viewing of the extended edition of _Steel Magnolias,_ which had already played once but was running through again, without sound, had blinked off, leaving the restaurant dark, minus the weak dancing of the unscented tea lights on each table.

She analyzed the situation in under a minute, wiped the corners of her mouth with her napkin—though their meal had been done at least two hours ago—and gracefully excused herself from her date. Leaving the restaurant, she used every method she had in her purse and hardwired into her jewelry she had to contact first J'onn, then Kara. She was unsuccessful in every way. The blackout had knocked the power out of the cars on the road, her comms, and if she had to guess, her taser. "Well, isn't that just great." She murmured.

There were several people on the sidewalk and in the street around her, despite the late hour, but no one seemed to be paying attention to her, everyone either investigating the blacked out buildings, or talking loudly between themselves about "what in the hell was going on". She bit the inside of her cheek thoughtfully, then cleared her throat and spoke, "Kara, can you hear me?"

A woman standing by the open driver's side door of her dead Toyota Corolla gave Alex a wayward glance. Alex decided between looking like either a psychopath or a moron, and immediately took on the persona of being intoxicated, and lazily fumbled with her dead iPhone as she zigzagged her gait, "Hell-oooooo…is this thing on?" She waved the device in the lady's direction, "So freakin' weird! The bar closed down AND now my phone's not working!" The other woman rolled her eyes and looked away, muttering for Alex to 'walk it off, sweetheart'.

Satisfied, Alex dropped her phone into her purse and began a determined, high-heel driven powerwalk downtown. Kara had mentioned working late at the office, but Alex doubted that's where she still was. "Kara, can you hear me?" she repeated, her heels still rhythmically clicking against the sidewalk. Of course, Alex knew that Kara would have to be actively listening in order for her to pick up the older Danver's voice. The way Alex understood how Kara explained it, her super-hearing, like her super strength, was always on, but she could tune in and out of different frequencies, and her brain could adjust amplitudes accordingly—so like learning not to rip a door off its hinges every time she entered a room, Kara had trained herself to only be attentive to a certain amount of noise—at least until she actively tried to sort through all the noise at once.

Alex found herself thinking back to Kara's arrival. She didn't have powers yet, her cells had not adjusted to Earth's yellow sun, and she discovered her powers logarithmically in the first few days of her landing. Her hearing was the first. Alex, much to her annoyance, had woken up to her new little sister, folded into a little Kryptonian-teenager-shaped ball under her bed, her head clamped between her hands, sobbing. Ironically enough, when Alex crawled beside her and asked what was wrong, Kara hadn't heard her.

So right now either Kara wasn't listening, or was busy with something else. Alex peered at the skyline between its scrapers, hopeful that she's spot her sister. It was quiet, no power meant no sirens, so there was no way for Alex to follow noise to find her sister. _Maybe_ _she's_ _still_ _at_ _work_ , Alex thought, but even she didn't believe that. The quieter she realized it was the more unsettled she felt. Alex shook her black-laced shoulders, trying to rid herself of the circling feeling in her gut—like water down a drain—and tried to think herself out of the irrational worry. It was late, no one seemed in dire danger…she decided to stop at her apartment, which was only a few blocks away, to change into something more 'Alex Danvers' and less 'third-date-I-shaved-my-legs-for-this-so-it-better-be-good', and then stop by Kara's, just to be sure she was okay. Hell, Kara could be sleeping, oblivious to the blackout until morning, right?

She bit her cheek again—no car, no taxi, and Kara's flat was one heck of a walk. Oh well, once in sneakers she wouldn't mind a chance to investigate the blackout, and clear her head.


	6. Chapter 6

_Kara's apartment-Present time_

"Here." James spoke softly, unfurling an afghan blanket over his friend, cautiously tucking it around her shoulders. Kara had yet to complain of being cold, but her shivering was evident.

"Thank you." Kara was not totally in the room—her mind was reaching out to elsewhere. She had compartmentalized her thoughts as best she could, but her head was suddenly killing her. Hot spikes of pain were bursting from behind her eye and down through her jaw at random intervals, and she felt a little surreal, like the darker tones in a black and white photo, like she was seeping into different things. She tried categorizing her injuries, but the buzzing in her head made that near-impossible.

Her arm was broken, that much she was sure of. The pain mimicked the phantom throngs of pain she would wake to from her nightmares, reminding her of the time she broke her arm during her first solar flare. On those nights, she would jump awake with a start, from whatever nightmare it was, and have to rub the pseudo pain in her upper right arm away. When it first began, Supergirl had gone to the medical team at the DEO, fearing that breaking her arm when she was human for a day had permanently damaged her somehow. After a battery of diagnostic tests, the MRIs and X-rays revealed an absolutely perfect right arm, not even scarring to show that there ever was a break. When Dr. Hamilton and her team had no explanation for Kara's pain, Alex was gentle in introducing her own hypothesis.

 _"_ _You think I'm, what, making it up?" Kara asked, a little offended._

 _"_ _No, nothing like that. Phantom pain is a_ real _symptom, but usually of something psychological." Alex said, turning casually to finish folding her laundry._

 _Kara moved from rolling a pair of Alex's socks together to put her hands on her hips, "So I'm just crazy?"_

 _"_ _You're not listening, Kara. I'm saying you breaking your arm is representative of something else. Breaking a bone sucked, yes. But the solar flare was a traumatic experience. To be physically powerless when you're used to being extraordinary, I mean, I can't imagine how vulnerable you felt. So when you have a nightmare and wake up with the phantom pain, I think it's just this nagging reminder in the back of your mind to when you were the most—helpless."_

 _Kara fumbled with the socks in her hands, "Oh."_

 _Alex gave a curt shake of her head, "And you're doing that wrong." She snatched the rolled up socks from Kara, unrolled them and rolled them up in, what Kara would argue, was the_ exact _same way she had done._

Of course right now it felt like her arm was on fire—not just a phantom twinge. But the pain in her chest was most concerning, a weird crunching, pinching pain when she breathed and below that was searing, tearing pain, that wasn't localized like in her arm. Then there was a heat just above her belly button, and a strong pressure that gave her a sensation of needing to pee.

She scoffed at the romantic notion of peeing her pants in front of James, "Hehe, ah."

"What is it?" he had returned to putting pressure on her head wound, which he realized was bleeding a lot more than he originally thought.

"You know, this is kind of nice," she said.

"Yeah, how I always imagined my first date with you, sweating my ass off in your non-air conditioned apartment, holding her head together in the candlelight." James let himself smile for the first time since the attack, "Is that what you meant by 'nice'?"

 _First date, huh?_ Kara made a conscience decision to ignore. Feeling, real feelings, were way too much for her to handle right now.

"No need for the 'tude," but Kara smiled anyway, "And you could open a window, or take off your shirt."

"Getting a little bold, aren't we?" James leaned over the television and pushed the window open, breathing in the fresh rush of air that streamed into the stuffy flat.

"It was a joke." Kara closed her eyes, enjoying the night breeze for what it was worth, "God, it's just so quiet." No noise came from the street below; even during her solar flare, there had been traffic and work and background noise to fill in her lack of super-hearing, but now…it was just her haggard breaths.

"It's going to be okay, Kar." One of James hands was pressing dutifully on the dishtowel, the other was situated precariously on the top of her head, his fingers unconsciously making small strokes over her hair.

"I know." She mouthed inaudibly. Then, louder, "The quiet is what's so nice. Is that a horrible thing to say?" Usually, even in the dead of night, when the world was asleep, Kara could still hear the gears in her wristwatch turn, the hum of the streetlamps outside, the dripping faucet in 2B that Mrs. Diggs absolutely refused to get fixed—no matter how many times Kara purposefully carried her grocery bags for her just so she could enter her apartment and bring it to her attention. Right now, even under the circumstances, Kara wanted to appreciate the rare moment of peace, no unnecessary noise, ringing phones to be answered, nothing she owed the universe.

"Kara, open you eyes…"


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey y'all, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I am enjoying writing this! It's my first fic, so I apologize for any typos, continuity errors, and etc. The next chapter will be along in a few days (I'm in grad school, so I'm busy, but this is such great stress relief :D)**

 **PS Thank you all for those of you that have taken time to write a review-they all mean so much to me, and I appreciate each and everyone. Also, I can take a little constructive criticism if you want.**

 **The ending for this fic is not set in stone, so if you had some suggestions or something/someone you wanted to see in the upcoming chapters, just let me know. Plus, I don't plan on this being one of those stories that is 30 chapters long, it will come to a timely and graceful close once the story is told to completion, so thank you for continuing to read!**

… _EARLIER…_

"Kara, open your eyes!"

She obeyed slowly and unwillingly.

"Oh, thank god," James sighed out in relief as she blinked dazedly up at him. She was lying in the middle of the road, on the turnabout that circumvented the small city park, where she had been tossed around. She opened her mouth and managed a small squeak. She closed her eyes for a second and tried inhaling through her nose, to get a handle on her pain and panic, as James watched her with bated breath.

"Wow, that did not feel good." She whispered. James whipped his head around a few times, trying to see the unstoppable force, but since Kara was not still being tossed around like a whiffle ball, he assumed they were getting a moment of reprieve.

"It's gone," Kara exhaled slowly, trying to clear her spinning head.

James was bent over her midsection, pressing Kara's work blouse against her abdomen; Kara wasn't sure at what point he had picked it up off the ground, but as he applied more pressure she stopped caring, " _Ah!"_

James still gave wayward glances around in the dark, "How do you know it's gone?"

"You didn't feel it?"

James shook his head, now half-listening, half-examining his friend.

"I—I don't know, it's hard to explain. It felt like—like electricity, but more than that, it was like power, but really raw and abrasive— _mhm!_ "

"Okay, easy, let's get you out of here." He knew she should not be moved, but with the freaky power monster thingy enjoying her as a plaything, he was willing to risk it. He moved to pick her up but she stopped him.

"I can stand."

"Kara—"

"James, please, I'm alright, just got the wind knocked out of me."

"'The wind knock out of you'?—Kara, you were a human hacky sack."

"What's a hacky sack?"

"Seriously? Even Clark—you know what, we'll address that later. Kara. I know it's dark, but I imagine you don't look very good."

"Just help me up."

Against his better judgment, he forced Kara to her feet—though she was the equivalent to a fleshy slinky, and he had trouble positioning himself underneath her to walk. After thirty precious seconds, and a number of curse words from James, he had the amorphous Kara leaning against is front side, held up by what Winn would have describe as his 'shamelessly flirtatious muscles' (seriously, what kind of photographer needed biceps like that?), they began a slow and torturous hobble towards Kara's neighborhood.

"Could it have been a Fort Rozz escapee?" James asked, trying to keep Kara focused on his voice.

Her head was leaning back against his shoulder, so her face was dangerously close to his, "Maybe. It knew who I was right away."

"What do you mean?"

"It spoke—well, sort of. It didn't really talk, but I could feel it say stuff."

"Like telepathy?"

"No, no, I don't think so. It was…it's hard to explain…I guess it was kind of like the voice you 'hear' when you read a book. I don't know, I've never heard of something that works like that thing did. We need to get a hold of the DEO, we have to stop it—" suddenly she pitched forward and vomited all over the sidewalk. _Well, this is certainly attractive,_ she thought as pain in her head and chest sank its teeth into her consciousness.

James held her as she went limp, "Kara!"

 _…_ _PRESENT…_

"Kara?"

Alex Danvers stood in the open doorway to the studio flat. Deep within the shadows of the apartment, James Olson's candlelight silhouette stood over the unmoving body of her little sister.

"Thank god," James exhaled as Alex strode into the room.

"Alex?" Kara asked softly, squinting at the approaching figured.

Alex slowed as she approached, hyperaware of how her sister was oriented on the sofa. "What's wrong?"

"Something _super_ weird is going on—" Kara started, but was cut off as Alex stopped in her tracks.

"Oh my god, Kara, what happened?" she knelt immediately, shooting James an inquisitive, and to some extent accusatory, glance.

James answered, "We were attacked by…well, actually I don't know what the hell it was…but whatever caused the blackout and it is interfering with Kara's abilities."

Alex took her sister's face in her hands and gently lifted an eyelid with her thumb, examining her in the dim light. Kara, even in the dancing glow of the candlelight, was shocked to see her sister's face—was Alex Danvers was wearing makeup? And not just foundation to cover dewy skin, no. Alex Danvers had lip-liner and mascara, the whole shebang, which contrasted exquisitely with the high-school era t-shirt and gym leggings she had on. Kara made a mental note to later tease her endlessly about her attire as she whispered with a small smile, "How was your date?"

"Jesus, Kara, not now." Alex _tsked_ and carefully moved the rag James was actively pressing to her head and peered underneath it. Without proper light, Alex tenuously pressed her fingers to the wound along Kara's hairline—and not without a fair amount of protesting from Kara, though Kara seemed too weak to pull away. "You need stitches," Alex muttered grimly, letting her fingers train down the locks of Kara's hair that blood had soaked through. She held up the "peace" sign with her hand, "How many fingers?"

Kara crossed her eyes, "Thursday." And smirked.

"Kara, this is serious."

"Two, Alex. It's okay—"

"Don't you dare start with that." Alex had absolutely no desire to hear Kara's "okays" and "fines". She directed, "James, can you please go to gas station on the Webster and 2nd. We need alcohol, a needle and thread, first aid kit, a lighter—"

"—A bear claw—" Kara interjected under her breath, but it went ignored.

"Something's telling me the mini-mart is not going to be open for business, Alex," James said incredulously, not confused at all by what he was about to be asked to do.

"We'll pay them back." Alex said firmly, not breaking eye contact.

James rubbed his forehead as he made his way to the door, muttering, "Fantastic, my first blackout-looting." Then, more loudly, towards Kara, "I'll be back as soon as I can!"

"Grab anything you think will help!" Alex called after him as he shut the door. She turned her full attention to Kara.

"Man, am I glad to see you," Kara whispered, "Minus you encouraging James to rob a store. What's going on?"

Alex shook her head a little, "I don't know. It could be any number of things; my guess would be an EMP of some sort." Kara made a move to sit up as Alex spoke, " _Ahh!"_ and she fell back against the couch pillows.

Alex placed her hands on Kara's upper arms, steadying her as she heaved for air. "Okay, Girl of Steel, how bad?"

Kara bit her lip. In front of the whole world she had to be Supergirl, impervious to bullets, and nuclear warheads, and hard feelings. In front of her friends she had to be a super girl, juggling Cat and company with a smile on her face, while cowering behind a pair of glasses. But in front of Alex, she was just Kara. She didn't have to be unbreakable. She exhaled, "I'm not sure."

Alex noted her sister's rapid breathing, and reached up and took her pulse, "Okay." Kara's baseline for her metabolic rate in general was faster than a human, but her heart rate was elevated beyond that, probably to cope with her drop in blood pressure from bleeding.

"Okay," Alex repeated, "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Yep."

Alex rolled her eyes in a way that only Alex could, and peeled away the blanket that was precariously tucked around her sister's body. It was so hard to see, Alex wrapped an arm behind Kara's shoulders and leaned down with her, moving to lay her down.

Kara couldn't help but yelp, but Alex wasn't James, and could take Kara being in pain.

"I know, shh, I've got you," Alex soothed, still continuing to get Kara flat on the couch. Now she noticed a ball of cloth, saturated with a dark liquid, stuck to Kara's abdomen. Alex moved the makeshift gauze away and studied the penetrating wound beneath Kara's last rib. "What could have torn through your suit? Was it a weapon?" The wound was shocking to see, but it did not appear to be that deep.

Kara could only give a small head shake.

"Okay, Kara, what is?" Alex asked even more sternly than before, "You're in way too much pain for this to be it."

"I don't know," she muttered, "It hurts to breathe."

Alex lowered an ear to Kara's chest, listening intently. "Let me see," then untucked the hem of Supergirl's uniform top and as gently and as quickly as she could, scrunched it up so that it was tucked under Kara's bra, revealing her midsection to the flickering light.

In addition to the still-weeping laceration, Kara's ribcage was obviously asymmetrical, uneven and slightly concave on one side, covered in the absolute blackest bruise Alex had ever seen.

Much to Kara's distress, Alex traipsed her fingers over each rib, "God, Kara. What did this?"

Kara did not answer right away, because it didn't feel like Alex was really asking her. "Where else are you hurt? Kara, Kara focus. Talk to me."

Kara felt herself slowdown in time, like Alex was in a different frame of a television show than she was. She tried to answer, but it was becoming harder to do everything, to breathe, to speak, to think. "I don't know, everything hurts. I, uh, my arm…I think I broke it. And my head is killing me. And my stomach, feels funny."

Alex took Kara's right arm and gently manipulated the bones between her fingers as Kara bit her lips together. "Yeah, it's broken."

"Alex, stop!" Kara huffed as her sister pressed a flat palm to her abdomen.

Alex, by nature, was very perpendicular—made up of sharp, predicable angles, both her personality and facial features. With her personality, she was direct and to the point; there were no curves, no bends, no tangents. Her face was homologous to that personality; sharp cheek bones, sharp eyes, and tight lines. It was something that Kara found most endearing about her sister. While others found her harsh and aggressive, Kara saw a person who was irrevocably good at being perpendicular—her face could say one thing, but on the inside she was often a direct ninety degrees from that. So as Kara looked up at Alex now, she saw hard, analytical eyes, tight-lined lips, a not a hair out of place; but underneath that Kara saw the pile of mush that was her big sister—the one that was dying inside, the one that felt helpless and small and round.

"Alex?" Kara whispered.

Alex inclined her head and raised her eyebrows inquisitively.

"It's going to be okay—"

"Kar—"

"No, listen to me. It is going to be okay. My big sister is going to take care of me, and then the lights will come back on."

And for a second, Agent Alex Danvers, PhD, transformed, and became just Alex Danvers, big sister. Her shoulders relaxed as she exhaled, and she leaned down and pressed her forehead ever so gently to Kara's as her little sister closed her eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

_FLASHBACK—After a red-kryptonite infected Supergirl is lying in a crater in the road that the green martian had made with her._

"Go. Please." Alex pleaded to J'onn. She knew he could read her thoughts, feel her panic. _Go. This is where it ends, you have to go._ Much to her dismay, J'onn gave an almost unperceivable wink. Morphing back into Hank Henshaw, he lowered himself to his knees, his hands behind his head. Alex sank to the ground beside Supergirl as several of her fellow agents swarmed their superior officer and carted him away.

Alex grabbed Supergirl's wrist with her functioning hand, several more DEO agents approached—their co-workers, their peers—mechanically moved her away from her sister. One agent put Supergirl's wrists together in kryptonite cuffs, then two more produced a litter, and arranged her on it. A particularly short, female agent took Alex by the elbow and helped her to her feet, "Ma'am?"

"I'll be staying with Supergirl." Alex told her quietly.

"Yes ma'am," they began to trail behind the agents that were carrying Supergirl towards one of the vans.

Alex got into the back of the vehicle on her own accord, sitting so that her knees were touching the side of the litter her sister was on. A medic was hesitantly checking Supergirl's pupillary response; another medic knelt beside Alex, "You're injured, Agent Danvers?"

Though Alex had her obviously-broken arm tucked between the tactical weapons belt around her waist and her legs, she shook her head, "No, sir."

Alex spent the forty-minute ride in near-silence, staring at the cuffs around her sister's wrists. In the very back of her mind she was preparing her case so that Kara would not be arrested—Alex was doubtful that the DEO would try to incarcerate Supergirl, but she could not help but consider it a possibility. A little bit anterior to that thought in her mind was another—J'onn was gone. Even if in reality he was in the backseat of the SUV in front of them, he was gone, she knew that. The consequences of that fact branched off into a thousand other thoughts: what would become of the DEO, who would be in charge, where would J'onn be taken, how was this going to affect Kara…?

Once back at the base Alex and Kara were temporarily separated. Alex did not argue with Dr. Hamilton, who sent Supergirl for an CT scan and ordered Agent Danvers to join the other wounded agents in triage. Well, she didn't not argue, but that did not mean she didn't disobey either. She sat in the empty med bay that had Kara's solar emitter in it and waited.

After an hour or so Agent Tam, the tall DEO nurse practitioner of Korean decent opened the door and stuck his head in the room with a warm smile, "Ah, Agent Danvers, so good to see your listening skills are intact."

Alex was in no mood for sarcasm, "Is she okay?"

Tam entered the room fully, letting the door close behind, "Scans are coming up clean. Compared to her old films, it looks like her brain function is normal. Hamilton has her sedated just as a precaution, though." He stood in front of her and lowered his voice, "As for out fearless leader, I'm afraid I don't have any updates. Though they made a show of parading him towards the cellblock."

Alex nodded, "Thank you."

"And you're disobeying orders in the wrong room. Dr. Hamilton thinks it would be more—intuitive—to have Supergirl recover in med bay six."

"Ah." Alex nodded again. That was logical. Med Bay Six housed a "red" solar emitting table, which mimicked Kryton's red sun and dampened Supergirl's powers. Instead of the bed of bright white light Kara usually woke up on after a DEO fiasco, tonight she would come to on a table of burnt-orange light, drained of her energy and strength.

"But since you're here…" Tam suddenly took Alex's arm from where it was pinned in her lap.

" _Ah!_ God, Tam," she tried to pull her arm away, "It can wait."

"Nonsense!" he smiled again, grabbing the leg of her stool and scooting her a little closer to the exam table against the wall. He pushed back her sleeve and situated her arm precariously on the table. Alex was unsure of where he pulled the hand-held x-ray scanner from, but she did not bother to ask as he waved it slowly above her limb, studying the display screen on the back of the device, he still spoke quietly, "You'll be happy to know, no one died. I think that will be important to Kara."

Alex looked at the nurse in nothing short of shock—she'd never heard anyone on base call her sister 'Kara'. A thousand things ran through her mind. Were Tam and Kara really _that_ close? Since Dr. Hamilton and Alex were usually the ones to treat Supergirl for the rare medical malady, had Kara and Tam even talked much? Had Kara been insisting that she be called by her first name?...Then it occurred to Alex that it was none of the above. Tam didn't really know Kara—no one at the DEO really did—but he knew Supergirl, the blue-clad personification of a smiley-face emoji whose giggle could be heard bouncing off the cavernous walls of HQ. She bounced a little when she walked, and, though she had never claimed to have super-smell she made it near impossible for anyone to pack baked goods in their lunch, and every once in a while, when trailing behind Director Henshaw and Agent Danvers, she would spin on one foot so that her cape whirled around her. The person that was responsible for today's events was not Supergirl, and it would be inappropriate to say as much.

"Congratulations, Agent Danvers, your arm is broken. Make a fist." She followed his instructions with difficulty.

"Okay, open your hand and spread your fingers as far apart as you can. Okay. I'll stabilize the bones in just a minute." He said as he unstrapped the Kevlar vest she wore. "Inhale and hold." Tam instructed, running the device over her black polo shirt, parallel with her ribs. He gave a nod, "Looks okay. Did you hit your head?"

"No. It really is just the arm." She said. Physically at least.

…

Once Tam had her arm splinted, Alex asked Velasquez to update her on J'onn when possible, and then she made her way to Kara.

Alex did not apprehensively stand outside the med bay and argue with herself about sitting next to the downed superhero; she did not sound uneven, or unprofessional, or melancholy when talking to Dr. Hamilton about Kara's condition; she did not hesitate to drag up a stool and sit beside her sister; she did not stop herself from taking her hand; she did not break down.

Instead, she looked over Kara lying on the table, tense even in her sedated state. She looked over the monitors and the posted imaging scans and the tapered dose of medications Kara was receiving. She looked at the bold make-up and dark clothes, and frowned at the task ahead.

Alex thought to herself about today, and the days, the years leading up to it. She thought of the day Kara discovered her super-strength, much to the dismay of the bathroom facet she was turning on at the time; and then the day she caught the plane. She thought of looking out the small oval window, her heart dropping to her gut as she recognized her water-logged little sister performing what can only be described as an end-zone victory dance before bounding off the wing of the bobbing plane. She thought of the familiar burning she could feel in her chest every time she saw a glimpse of Kara's antics on the news.

Then she thought, maybe if Kara hadn't been placed on such a high shelf, maybe she wouldn't have fallen so far.

 _KARA'S APARTMENT—Present Time_

"Now listen, Kara, focus, listen. I need you to lie still, okay?"

Kara gave a small nod, tears in her eyes as she bit back the pain. She decided to ask "Where's J'onn?"

"Good question." Alex spoke as she walked around the flat, seemingly gathering anything she thought might be useful. "I'm guessing the EMP knocked out his powers, too. Otherwise he'd have found us by now." Kneeling back beside the sofa, "Can you explain to me how you feel? How did this happen?"

Kara winced, "Like James said, we were attacked by _something_. It was, like, energy—but not like Livewire—this was _power._ It was like, I don't know, burning? I'm not sure what it was, but I don't think is was from Fort Rozz, but it knew who I was. It was kind of invisible, too, but it could pick me up and throw me around.

"I feel…odd. Other than getting the snot beat out of me, I feel really tired. Like I haven't eaten, but I'm not hungry."

That was one for the books—Alex had never heard Kara utter the words 'not' and 'hungry' in the same sentence. Alex nodded, "Okay, now the not-fun part. Kara, the way your ribs are broken is very dangerous. You're already bleeding internally. I'm going to wrap this sheet around your center, to try and slow that bleeding."

And Alex was right, it was the absolute opposite of fun. Kara screamed and squirmed as her sister wrapped the sheet around her, from armpit to hip, as tight as she could bear.

By the time she was done there was a panicked knock on the door. "It's me," James' voice muffled through the wood.

Alex gave Kara's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before getting up and letting him in.

James was _drenched_ in sweat and out of breath, a seemingly full garbage bag slung over his shoulder like a grim Santa Claus. He entered the flat with sure strides, "Well, I wasn't the only one with the looting idea…"

Kara groaned. This shouldn't be happening—she should be out there _stopping_ this from happening. Even without her abilities, she should be on the streets reminding people that that they were better than this.

"Hey, it's okay, this isn't your fault." Alex assured as James upturned the garbage bag on the floor beside the coffee table, and went to kneel by Kara as Alex picked through his spoils.

"You look terrible," he said with a forced grin.

Kara mentally nodded, "You know, I would totally kick your butt right now."

"Oh, yeah?" he laughed, almost sincerely.

"Yeah," she whispered with a smile, "Only Alex is my proxy. Alex, kindly kick James' butt for me?"

"Actually, I think might have James just saved your life." Alex said breathlessly. Both Kara and James looked her way as she held up a small lantern with a handle sticking out of its top.

"But batteries don't work either—" Kara began, until Alex took the handle and cranked it around and around, for almost a minute straight, then she stopped and triumphantly flipped the power switch beside it.

The bulb lit up the room.

"I am _so_ glad that actually worked." James exhaled.

Alex found a Singer's travel sewing kit and bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the pile as Kara asked, "But how, I thought everything was out?"

Alex explained as she had James hold the lantern above Kara's head and opened the sewing kit. Threading the needle, she said, "Well I guess everything with 'stored' energy is out, like batteries, and you. Your cells store energy from the sun and release that energy in the form of power. The initial EMP must have knocked out whatever was on, and whatever was stored. But something like this lamp doesn't use a battery or stored energy—it works by priming a spring that slowly uncoils after you wind it, which turns the generator inside."

"So that means we could have power, if we could charge it mechanically?" James asked incredulously.

"Deep breath, Kara," Alex crouched by the arm of the couch her sister's head was laying over, "This is going to hurt." And she poured a small amount of hydrogen peroxide into the head wound.

" _Ahh!_ Roa, Alex!" Kara cried.

"That was the easy part," Alex said down to her, grimly, and then looked up at James. Without speaking, he knew what he had to do, and gently took Kara's bottom jaw in his hand, the other hand still holding the lantern aloft. Alex kissed Kara on the forehead, "Hold still, okay?" She wasted not another second, pinching the gaping flesh together and began to sew it up.

It was a good thing Mrs. Diggs was effectively deaf, because Kara did not hold back her cries, and pleas for Alex to stop—at least until she fainted.

Alex paused long enough to check and make sure that's all Kara did, and then continued.

James, with a grimace on his face, held fast. "If Kara needs stored energy, couldn't we 'charge' her, too?"

Alex finished her gruesome task and looked up James. He noticed her face was unbelievably pale, her hard eyes were glossy, and even that perfectly straight curtain of hair could not hide the perturbed look she was trying desperately to masquerade as unfeeling—and he realized she had a harder time manhandling Kara than she let on.

"Yes," she said, more softly than he was prepared for, "I think we can."

Thank you guys for waiting patiently and I hope you enjoy this installment (Sorry it was kind of a "filler", but I was so impressed with the episode "Falling" that I couldn't not incorporate it somehow.). I hope to have another chapter in by Friday, where we can get Supergirl "re-charged" and get the ball rolling on stopping whatever big bad this could be.

Comments and suggestions are welcome J . Have a good week, everybody


	9. Chapter 9

_KARA'S APARTMENT—Present Time_

James had done a damn-near professional job of gathering materials from the store; Alex was grateful for that much.

They worked in silence, James occasionally cranking the mechanical lantern while Alex did what she could to put her sister back together. Now that Kara was too…well, unconscious…to resist, Alex unwound the sheet that was tied around her midsection, and shimmied the rest of her Supergirl uniform off and over her head with painstaking care, and discarded it on the floor.

She took great care, running her fingers over each rib, estimating the extent of the damage below the skin. Alex Danvers was no M.D., but years of her mother's conditioning to 'take care of your sister', and Kara's escapades with the DEO for the past few months, Alex had made herself an expert on Kryptonian physiology.

Kara's anatomy was strikingly similar to a human's, in fact they were structurally homologous. Though, Kara's liver had a several extra lobes, and her organs were markedly larger than a human's. She also had an extra pair of teeth, just behind her molars. Of course, in order to maintain more structures, Kara had more blood vessels than normal—approximately 30% higher blood volume compared that of an adult human female, which explained why she ran two or three degrees higher than the standard temperature of 98, and her blood pressure and heart rate were a little higher, too. So much metabolic activity required a _huge_ amount of calories, which nearly doubled when she started using her powers again.

On cellular level, that's when Kara got complicated: Her skin cells reacted more like flora than fauna in response to light, but instead of creating nutrients like a plant photosynthesizes, her integumentary cells followed a pathway to store the sun's energy in extraordinary ways that Alex—or anybody—did not yet understand.

Alex noted that the laceration on Kara's side had stopped bleeding, which was a small relief, because Alex didn't know if she could stand putting another stitch in her little sister; but the black bruise extending from the section of caved-in ribs had spread.

"My god," James hissed. He had never dreamed that if he had an opportunity to see Supergirl nearly-topless, she would look like this. He felt somewhat ashamed, staring at her body with wide eyes—come to think of it, he'd never seen Kara in as little as a tank top, let alone a bra.

"It's called 'flail chest'." Alex said in response. James was commenting on the counterintuitive movement Kara's mangled ribs were making as she breathed—as she inhaled the ribs moved inward, and exhaled they expanded. "I don't know what we'll do if one of her lungs collapses."

Alex gingerly pressed around Kara's abdomen. Noting a rigid spot above her navel, "And she's bleeding internally, somewhere in her belly. I think it's slowed down though." The spot was not any bigger or smaller that it had been when she initially palpated it.

"Look, Alex, are you sure a hospital can't do anything?"

Alex gave a single shake of her head as she tore an ACE bandage James had stolen from its cellophane. "Nothing we're not doing here. Surgery is the only way to fix the internal damage, but that's not an option when her only blood donor is in Metropolis."

"What about your organization?"

"I have no way of knowing it's safe. If the backup generators failed, then the primary locks on the prisoner cells will too. And then National City will have a much bigger problem than an incapacitated hero." As she started to bind the ACE bandage around Kara's torso, Alex also thought about what Kara would need at the DEO medical unit. A solar emitter wouldn't be an instant fix, Kryptonian cells absorbed electromagnetic waves relatively slowly; judging by the damage Alex could assess, Kara would probably need a surgical intervention to keep her from dying until then. The DEO didn't keep Superman's blood on hand—he didn't work for them. And Kara was, funnily enough, afraid of needles, so an autonomous transfusion was not an option, since they had nothing on reserve. On top of all the other variables, Alex said, "We have no way of transporting her there, anyway."

"That's not entirely true…"

Both Alex and James' heads snapped up in alarm, towards the voice that came from that direction. J'onn J'onnz, stood in front of the door, transforming into Hank Henshaw.

As he approached, Alex thought of a thousand things to say to him—are you okay, you have your powers, is anyone hurt, does HQ have power, do we have any leads—instead what she spat was "What took you so long?"

"The blackout initiated an automatic lockdown at the DEO. Since teleporting through a meter-thick steel door would have been a tad high profile, I waited for technical to get the back-up generators on," he placed his hands on his belt and assumed his usual wide-set stance at the head of the couch, looking down at Supergirl, "What in the hell happened?"

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 _As Kara slept, she dreamed…She was not certain if what her brain concocted was a memory or just a very realistic hoax—Catco, shortly after J'onn impersonates Supergirl to convince Cat that Kara is not the superhero._

"Miss—"

"No."

"—Grant."

"No."

"It's just—"

"No."

"Look, Ms. Grant." Kara finally said, a little sharper than she intended. "I just want you to know, it's no big deal—"

"Precisely, so there is no reason to continue to muddle on about it. I thought you were Supergirl, so what? I once mistook Ashley for Mary Kate during the Hollywood Holiday Brunch—granted I had drunk my weight in mimosas and they were both wearing that god-awful blue…thing—anyway forgive but never forget, I suppose."

Kara sighed and made her way to the office door, "Well, either way, I was honored for you to think that I was…you know…capable of being something so big. I wish I could be that 'big' to you."

Once Kara had made her quiet, nondramatic exit, Cat Grant looked up from the spreads she had been intently flipping through throughout their entire conversation. She removed her glasses and leaned back in her chair, thoughtfully. Then she stood up, adjusted her pencil skirt, snatched her purse from its hook and briskly walked out of her office.

As she walked by her assistant's desk, without breaking stride, she ordered, "Forward the phones."

Kara awkwardly dialed the forward code into her Cisco keypad, grabbed her bag and stumbled after her boss, groaning a little as she slipped into the elevator as the doors closed, "Oh, please not martinis again…"

To Kara's shock, they did not go to the parking garage. The elevator plummeted straight to the ground floor, and they exited through the lobby. Kara squeaked once or twice to inquire where they were going, but Ms. Grant was as tight-lipped and fabulous as ever. Nearly everyone bustling about the lobby turned their heads to watch Cat Grant click across the marble floor in her smart high-heeled shoes, her jittery assistant in tow. Kara wondered if Ms. Grant had ever even been through the lobby of her own building. Not that it mattered, because they briskly made their way outside and started down the sidewalk without pause.

"Ms. Grant, if I did something wrong I—I am _so_ sorry. Could you please tell me where we are going?"

"Kiera, do me, and the self-righteous nitwits who protest that noise pollution is an actual environmental problem, a favor and cease with the incessant stuttering." Ms. Grant never looked any way but straight forward as she spoke.

After several blocks of purposeful strutting, Ms. Grant finally slowed her pace as they reached a small intercity park—the same one where Leslie and Sioban would try very, very hard to kill both her and Supergirl in the near-future.

Cat did not hesitate to approach a fountain at the convergence of several sidewalks. A statue of some nondescript Greek goddess in the center of the pool of water, an arc of water coming from her mouth and filling the pool, which was filled with coins.

Kara's eyebrows came together in a way that was unique to Kara, and she looked at her boss standing before the fountain. She inclined her head a little at the statue spitting water into the concrete pool; she had of course seen it before, but she never really understood art on this planet, and thought it was funny.

Kara prepared herself for either the words of wisdom or the absolute scream-fest that was about to come out of her boss's mouth—either were possible at any time. "Ms. Grant?"

"Kiera, do you know why there are coins in this fountain?"

Kara was taken aback, but thankful that this tradition had been explained to her many years ago, "Um, people make wishes with them?" _Humans were superstitious to a fault._

"You get a gold sticky star for the day," Cat scoffed, and then said, "People make wishes. _People_ make wishes—children, adults, the elderly, individuals who honestly believe Velcro is an acceptable replacement for zippers on a clutch—all people make wishes. And what do you think makes those wishes come true?"

"Er…ma—magic?" Kara struggled for what Cat wanted to hear.

"Give me a penny." Cat held out her hand. Kara stared at her blankly for a second.

Cat rolled her eyes, "What, you think _I_ carry coins?"

Kara shook her head and scrounged a coin from the bottom of her purse, handing it to Ms. Grant, who made a point of keeping it pinched between two fingers and holding it away from her body, "People of all sorts make wishes, about all sorts of things. To be skinny, or tall, or rich, or in love, or to be important. And when you make a wish like this, you're not supposed to tell anyone what you've wished for. Why do you think that is?"

"Um…"

"Your mastery of the English language is truly inspiring." Ms. Grant muttered with disdain.

"Um, well, it won't come true."

"That is because of fear! 'Don't tell or it won't come true'? Ha! We say that because what if we can't get what we wish for? Not everyone gets to be the president, or become an astronaut, or win the lottery—and if we admit what we want and it doesn't happen—no matter how grandiose—we have somehow failed. And there is nothing people fear more than failure. You see, Kiera, there is no such thing as magic, there is only what happens, and what can happen." Cat Grant then shockingly yanked Kara's glasses off her face and simultaneously pressed the coin into her palm. "Close your eyes and make a wish."

"Hey—" Kara groped for her glasses, twisting around Ms. Grant and taking them back, shoving them back on her face, "Ms. Grant, please!" Kara suppressed a mix of panic and rage that Cat Grant had just made one of her nightmares come true—revealing herself. The whole scuffle for the glasses only lasted a second or two, and she believe none of the few park-goers were looking their way.

"Fine, do it with the damn glasses."

"…You're serious right now?"

"Kiera, have you ever known me to joke?"

Kara shrugged her shoulders and assumed a proper coin-throwing-wish-making stance, wanting this bizarre and stressful outing to come to an end. She thought of her wish and tossed the penny into the water. It landed with a soft _thunk!_ and swayed to the bottom of the pool. Kara turned back towards her employer.

"Kiera, whatever you just wished for; whether it be a promotion or perfect vision, it doesn't matter, as long as you don't tell me. The world will never know that it's not true. So the next time you 'wish' you were something, you make it true. Because failure is not an option."

And with that they went back to the office, Kara still slightly confused, but Ms. Grant seemingly satisfied, and finished out the business day.

Kara sheepishly stuck her Cat's office as housekeeping started shutting off the lights, "Ms. Grant, I've called your car and he's ready when you are. Do you need anything before I go?"  
"Is that clock behind?" Cat said, gesturing to the analog clock on the wall above her wet bar.

Kara gave a small squint and replied, "Uh, no, Ms. Grant, it's ten after seven."

"Hm. Very well. The driver can wait a while. You may leave, Kiera."

Kara nodded and pulled her head back out the door. Cat watched idly as she clicked off her desk lamp, gathered her belongings and walked out of site.

Cat took a deep breath, reached down into her purse, and withdrew a pair of glasses. Kara had not said anything all day about not being able to see. And looking at the glasses in her hands, Cat could see that they had no prescription, and were just ordinary polymer lenses set in tacky acrylic frames—just like the pair of non-prescription glasses Cat had switched Kara's with at the park.

Cat gave a small, sad smile, and tucked the glasses safely back in her purse. "I wish you trusted me. Supergirl."

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 **Hey everyone, I know I said it would be later in the week before another update, got a couple of great ideas from some PM's so I couldn't help myself and added this chapter.**

 **I'm a little hesitant about this chapter, because the dream sequence is a little out of continuity with how the rest of the fic has been written, but I hope you all enjoy it just the same-I tried keeping Cat as true to character of the show as possible, and writing her was a little challenging. (If you absolutely hate it, let me know and I will steer clear of anything like it in future chapters).**

 **I want to thank you all for the positive reviews, they make my day, and thank you for continuing to read/follow.**

 **'Til later, y'all :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**My apologies, and thank you, to those of you who brought up my mistake in the last chapter—I feel terrible but I somehow overlooked that Kara's glasses are lined with lead! Shame on me as a fan. That being said, I will not expand on that dream sequence any farther (I did have a possible plan for it, but I don't want to leave such an obvious error in this particular story, and it wouldn't be fair to you guys if I edited the previous chapter, so live and let live).**

 _KARA'S APARTMENT—Present time_

Kara opened her eyes to the sound of harsh, teethy whispers.

"She's in too much pain—"

"Alex is right, Mr. Olson. She can't wait much longer."

"Okay, there's still the issue of moving her. James is right in that she's in a lot of pain—and rightfully so. She shouldn't be moved without a proper med evac."

"What if you bring the equipment here?"

"Wel—that's actually not the worst idea you've had. It might take a small while, I do not have Supergirl's speed."

Kara made an unsuccessful move to turn her head to find the disembodied voices, " _Gah!"_

"Kara?" Alex inquired, appearing from the darkness. The space was only lit by the candles now, the manual crank-powered lantern set on the edge of the coffee table. Alex crouched beside Kara, who was trying to catch her breath, "Hey, shh, you're okay." Alex tenderly placed one hand on the side of Kara's face. "Here, follow my finger."

Kara's half-opened eyes lazily traced the path Alex made with her index finger in front of her face. "What's going on?" She mouthed, thick strands of saliva adhering her lips together. She repeated herself, not above a whisper.

At that, the familiar face of Hank Henshaw appeared above her. To her surprise, he smiled a little, but his eyebrows remained in their perpetually raised position, "Supergirl."

"J'onn, there's some sort of invisible monster thingy." Kara rushed.

Hank gave a definitive nod, "Mr. Olson has already informed me of that much. As far as my knowledge goes, there was no such beast on Fort Rozz, but without computer access to the database, I can't be sure." He had already explained to Agent Danvers and James Olson that the generators that the base was running on right now were actually their secondary set. The EMP killed the first, which were capable of keeping _all_ systems running; the secondary only kept essential systems—namely the locks on the doors—on. "DEO's working with National City Power and Light to turn things back on, until then it's radio silence. I took a trip around the city, but I didn't see anything."

"You have your powers?" Kara's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Even though that much was obvious, he was standing here, in front, of her as Hank Henshaw.

"My abilities aren't based on electromagnetic energy. I'm just me, I'm afraid."

"You—" but her words where choked off in a sudden intake of breath as the pain caught up to her concussion-muddled mind.

Alex frantically pet her sister's hair, "Shh, Kara, just breathe," she looked up at J'onn and James. "Alright, we need to get to work. J'onn, take James with you, and pick up Winn Schott. I'll make a list of what we'll need." It was doubtful that Winn would believe that Hank Henshaw was getting him up at three in the morning to try and save National City from the power-outage from hell, so maybe James would make it a little more convincing. "Can you fly with two people?"

"No problem."

Alex snatched a Post-it pad and a pencil from the end table beside the television, and began scribbling down her obtuse 'DEO shopping' list. After well-over a minute of writing, Alex crammed several of the Post-its into his hand, "Please hurry, sir."

He nodded and started for the door.

James gave Kara's hand a final squeeze, "Be right back." Kara had seen him standing over her from his place behind the sofa, but she had not noticed his hand around hers. Hers dropped down beside her as he followed J'onn out the front door.

James voice carried as the door closed behind them, "I don't, like, have to hold your hand, do I?" while Hank gave him a sideways, yet award-winning, look of supreme annoyance.

And they were gone.

Kara found herself looking up at Alex, who was still kneeling dutifully beside her. They stared back at each other for several long, silent, serious seconds, then Kara moved to adjust her busted arm and released how heavy it felt. Raising the broken limb a little, she inspected it in the soft light of the candles. Along both the front and the back of her arm ran a long piece of …metal?...duct taped from palm to elbow. Kara gave Alex a confused look, who bit her lip and then said stoically, "You need new salad tongs…"

After a beat of silence both burst into laughter—well, Alex did; Kara scrunched up her nose and grinned manically.

"How dare you, those were my prized salad tongs," Kara wheezed and Alex fell backwards onto the floor in a hysterical fit of laughter, and then tried to recall the last time she even saw Kara eat a salad.

"Okay, okay," Alex said catching her breath and waving her hand like it was the white flag of surrender, "You need to rest."

Kara rolled her eyes— _Fantastic, back to Dr. Alex._ "What I really need is to figure what happened, and what I need to do to fix it."

Alex's face returned to is serious resting-state, "No, Kara, what you need to do is focus on you. Look, I can't imagine what it's like to have the whole world resting between your shoulder blades, to have history have its eyes on you—but I know what it is to have to give up the tiny sliver of control you have in life, to trust someone else—but that's what you have to do. You have to trust me. And J'onn and James and Winn, and the rest of the world, to take care of ourselves once in a while. And to take care of you."

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 _Flashback (from_ How Does She Do It?) _—Supergirl saves the city from the Lord Technologies bomb by flying it, literally, up up and away from National City, as Hank Henshaw urges her to throw it over her communication headset._

Kara honestly did not think she was in danger. Then again, she did not _not_ think she was in danger, either.

Kara rarely felt invincible, even before she was taking on escaped alien prisoners and metahumans and downed airplanes; Kara was well aware that she was not unbreakable. If fact, she felt terribly fragile a lot of the time, like when she had to take Ms. Grant's verbal abuse with a smile, all while being called the wrong name. Kara had lost everything, her parents, her culture, her lifestyle, her planet—to a big extent, her identity—except for her name. So on the days that Cat Grant barked and sneered, insulted her intelligence and fashion sense, without even pronouncing her name correctly, Kara felt fragile.

Or like when she would catch Alex, in her rare moments of softness, looking at a picture of Jeramiah Danvers she kept hidden deep within the pockets of her wallet, when she thought she was alone. It had only happened two or three times in a dozen years, and Alex had yet to realize she'd been caught, Kara had walked in on Alex with her wallet on the table or desk in front of her, not touching it. Staring at the soft-worn photograph with a look that Kara had never been able to place with one single emotion. How could she look so helpless and so singular at one time. Kara wondered if she had had a photo of her own father, would she be able to look at it so?

Or the first, and, hell, every time she saw James Olson, someone she shouldn't—c _ouldn't_ —have, Kara felt fragile.

But when she took the bomb, she was not worried. Mainly because she wasn't thinking about her.

As she rocketed upward into the sky, the timer of the bomb ticking away just inches from her face, Hank bellowing in her ear, she thought about her mother, _take care of Kal._ And she thought of Eliza, _take care of your sister._ And she thought of Ms. Grant, _take care of my son._ So as the bomb detonated, that's all she thought, _Take care._

She was unconscious hundreds of meters before she hit the water, so why could she remember what it felt like on impact? How come she knew what it felt like to drown?

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 _KARA'S APARTMENT—Present time_

Kara gasped, suddenly, her trunk raising off the couch several inches before she flopped back down, squirming and groping for air.

Alex heard a strangled, desperate noise. She was staring out the window at the time—she'd just gotten up to stretch her legs—less than sixty seconds away, and she scrambled towards the sofa.

"-Lex!" Kara gasped hoarsely.

Alex skidded to a halt, clumsily, on her knees, "Kara, Kara, Kara!" Alex was pressing her ear to Kara's chest as she tried to calm her small thrashing, "Easy, easy, Kara, hang on. Hey, shhh."

Alex was up and sprinting, Kara watched her with pleading eyes from where she was suffocating loudly on the couch. Alex was opening and slamming kitchen drawers, then tearing through the living room to the desk beside the bed, and then she was back beside her sister.

Alex's fear of a collapsed lung was brought into light. In her head she visualized the leaking arteries beneath Kara's broken ribs, steadily filling the space between her lung and her chest wall, the hemothorax now suffocating her.

Alex grabbed Kara by the upper arm and turned her onto her side as best she could, all while Kara reenacted a fish out of water. Alex cranked the lantern like her—no, Kara's—life depended on it, and powered in on.

Alex was talking as she was acting, lifting Kara's arm up over her head and pinning it down with a sofa cushion, "Kara, you have blood in your chest, it's collapsing your lung." She spoke morbidly calmly as she moved the bandages aside from Kara's ribcage, and doused her side with rubbing alcohol, "I'm going to remove it, but it's going to hurt. Stay calm."

Somewhere in Kara's panicked, dying thoughts, she wondered if Alex planned on removing the blood or the lung, but judging on the small hole Alex began carving in her side, it probably wasn't the lung.

Kara felt a scream contract deep within her, but couldn't manage to let it out. Alex still spoke soothing words as she worked, "It's going to be okay, shh, Kara, you're going to be fine, just hang on." Alex was duct-taping a handful of crazy-shaped drinking straws together, half-hoping Kara didn't notice she was defacing one of her prized possessions. One of Kara's greatest first accomplishments when she first arrived on earth was collecting all eight of her favorite cereal's Krazy Drinking Straws prizes from the cereal box. She never used them now, but could never bring herself to throw them away—despite Alex's attempts during 'spring cleaning'. And now here they were, every color of the rainbow and neon pink, bundled together with silver tape and drenched in isopropyl alcohol.

Alex gave Kara one last apologetic look before she forced her McGuyvered chest tube between her sister's ribs. Kara managed to scream then.

Alex applied the last piece to her contraption—a Zipblock Freezer bag—to the protruding 'Krazy' ends and taping the bag around the end of the "tube" as the blood began to evacuate Kara's chest. Alex soothed, "It's over, it's over, just breathe. It's okay."

Kara stopped sobbing long enough to inhale sweetly.

"Just breathe." Alex repeated several times; to her sister or to herself she was not sure.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alex couldn't remember the last time she bit her nails.

God, it had to have been fifteen years ago, before she realized how unsanitary and kid-ish it was. But, alas, here she was, not ten minutes after having to effectively stab her little sister, and she had already mowed down her left hand completely, and had begun chewing on her right.

She had cleaned up, both Kara and herself, scrubbed the blood off her hands until they were red and raw (Kara's couch would probably not be so lucky), draped Kara in her Supergirl cape, and then the afghan blanket from earlier, and now sat on the floor, wedged between the coffee table and her (yet again) unconscious sister.

Alex had her left hand just barely resting on Kara's splinted hand, with her right hand at her face, biting her nails. She watched Kara anxiously.

Kara looked…unfamiliar. She was a strange color, grey and dim—maybe it was the candlelight. And she was covered in a sheen on sweat, her hair stuck to her neck and face in sickly ringlets. Her jaw was clenched, her teeth grinding a little in her sleep, the strain evident in her temples.

Alex thought about the time Kara had been fished out of the ocean after the Lord Technologies bomb incident. She remembered the bile returning to her stomach from her throat as she heard over the comms _We have her, sir._ The recon team was informing Director Henshaw that they had extracted Supergirl's body from the water. Alex had been beside her from the moment the helicopter landed. The look of her body was awkwardly misplaced—Supergirl strapped to a backboard. It was surreal.

Alex realized she had stupidly began to cry. Looking at Kara now…this was _too_ real. Kara Danvers wasn't zooming through the skies this time, and she still bled red. Her little sister, the one she never wanted, almost died tonight.

Alex was tired, tired of pretending she was okay. Tired of pretending she was incorrigible, tired of pretending watching Kara take on foe after foe was okay for her.

"Hey." A breathy whispered brought her back to reality.

"Hey," Alex responded, leaning in closer to Kara, whose eyes were squinting as if facing harsh light.

"Crying?"

Alex vigorously wiped the tears from her face and shook her head. With a sniff, "No, no, I was just…how do you feel?"

"Hurts." Kara forced a swallow, "Alive. Thank you."

Alex smiled, still trying to staunch the tears, "Yeah. Just stay that way, okay?"

"Deal." Kara searched her sister's eyes, "Why…crying?"

Alex scoffed, "You scared me, Kara. You—you can't…you know what?" Alex leaned back a little, her expression softening, "You don't have to be Supergirl." Kara began an exhausted protest, but Alex continued, "No, listen to me. The world already had Superman. You just had to be 'Kara'. The universe owed you that. It _kills_ me that you're not bitter, or angry, or a little bit selfish; that you're willing to give _everything_ , even before you put this on," Alex held up a corner of the cape that was draped over Kara, "I had—we all had—taken these huge strides to make sure you got a chance to just be Kara Danvers, but you ended up Supergirl all the same. I realize now, that those two people are indistinguishable.

"I just want you to be my sister, Kara. And I want you to be my sister for a long, long time. Maybe it's a human trait, to be grossly selfish. But I don't want to lose you, Kara."

Alex had eased herself over Kara, and was not technically hugging her, but it was close enough.

Kara was about to wheeze a response, but here was a frantic banging on the door—so surprising that Alex jumped a little.

"Alex, it's me!" It was James, for the second time that night.

Alex reluctantly left Kara's side to unlock the door.

James stumbled inside like he had just crossed the finish line of a marathon, tossing a duffle bag full of Alex's demanded supplies on the floor.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"That 'invisible monster thingy'," he huffed to catch his breath, "Hank found it. Well, it found us."

His words were emphasized by the sound of a crash outside—like a sedan being hurled from a rooftop…

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 **Alright everyone, hope you enjoy this installment! Things are progressing a tad slower than anticipated, but I had a couple reviews wanting a little more from Alex, so I hope this satiated that. It will be a few days before the next update, but as always, thank you for reading and feel free to comment.**

 **Regards : )**


	11. Chapter 11

James urgently pressed something into Alex's hand.

Alex gave him a rare look of confusion as she passed the communications receiver from one hand to the other. "James?"

James had spun on his heel and headed towards the sofa, where Kara was straining to turn her head towards them. He leaned over the back of the sofa, studying his hero in the light, unaware of the dramatics that took place while he was gone. Kara exhaled softly as he placed a hand along her cheek.

 _"_ _Hell—ooooo? Are you there yet?"_ a muted, disembodied voice echoed from the receiver.

Alex fumbled to cuff it around her ear, "Hello?"

 _"_ _Hello? Alex? Alex! Good, James made it!"_

"Winn?" Alex scrutinized, "How—just how?"

 _"_ _Oh, my god have you ever flown with Hank? Next time, just leave me out of the apocalypse. Anyway, radio waves are still online, I just had to charge the headsets—but you can thank me later—how's Kara?"_

Alex scooped up the duffel bag and strode over towards her sister, "Alive. Winn, we need a plan. J'onn is fighting our power-hungry friend. We need to get Kara help and we need to stop whatever the hell that thing is."

 _"_ _I know. I'm in communication with Hank, too. He's trying to lead it out of the city, but it's not interested. In fact, it doesn't really want to go much more south than_ Thibodaux boulevard _."_

As Winn spoke, Alex rummaged through James' duffel bad from the DEO. She found a small metal tin that had a handful of what looked like gel-filled, translucent pods, the size of coin.

She very carefully took Kara's arm, turned it so the soft skin of her forearm was exposed, and pressed one of the pods to skin below her wrist.

James asked, "What's that?"

"Little sting, Kar," Alex ignored James as she pressed the pod against Kara's skin.

Kara hissed, "Ah!" as a sharp, localized stab came from the pod, followed by a pinpricking cold that spread up her arm.

"I know, shh, it'll help with the pain." Alex said, tossing the empty pod away and replacing it with another, this one a slightly different color, "And this one is an antimicrobial—just in case."

Kara gave a small nod and Alex continued.

When she was done, Alex resumed sifting through the contents of the bag, talking to James, "When did that thing attack?"

"Right by Sterling road. Hank dropped me on the sidewalk and told me to get here." James gave a single headshake, "It was weird. Before, when I was with Kara, it didn't seem interested in me. This time I could, I don't know… _feel_ it come after me. But it was just as interested in Hank, too."

Alex lined up her supplies on the floor; tubing, saline, sterile gauze, one-use scalpel blades, a small tank of compressed oxygen, a pack of butterfly stitches, another tin of kryptonian-affective pharmaceutical pods and… "Why did you bring the Livewire trap?"

James answered as Alex turned the metal cube over in her hands, "Winn's idea. He thought maybe it could be altered to trap this thing too."

Winn chimed in over the receiver, " _Yeah, I was just grasping at straws with that plan. I didn't realize this thing wasn't corporeal, like at all. And Hank's saying he can 'sense' it, but not see it. And what's weird is it didn't attack Hank the whole time he was flying around the city looking for you guys and then looking for me._ "

…As Winn and Alex discussed what to do, James fixed his attention on Kara, who had been suffering in silence since he arrived, "How are you holding up?"

Kara smiled slightly, "Peachy keen, jelly bean." _Sexy._ Kara scolded herself the second the words slipped out of her mouth. She blamed the dorky response in part because of whatever the hell painkiller Alex had just dosed her with. It did not mask her pain totally, but was doing a heck of a job confusing her into not being sure whether she was in pain or just cold.

"— _Well, we need to figure something out. Hank says he can't seem to fight it."_ Winn's voice came over Alex's receiver, " _He says it keeps talking, though. Saying '_ Death to the House of the Damned'. _Repeatedly. That's cheerful."_

Alex brushed a thumb along her sister's cheek, "Kara, do you remember the monster saying anything to you?"

"Um, yeah," Kara licked her dry lips, "It said 'death to the house of El, the house of the Damned a couple of time."

Alex bowed her head in thought, "Why would it say that to J'onn?"

Several seconds passed, the passive quiet interrupted by distant crashing sounds of streetlamps being uprooted several streets away.

Kara felt herself fading into unconsciousness once more as her thoughts circled the drain. _Death to the House of El. Invisible. Power-hungry…Power-hungry…_ She meekly raised her splinted arm and brushed Alex's ear, whispering, "Power-hungry."

The touch from her little sister resonated across Alex's ear as she brought her hand up to touch the receiver, repeating under her breath, "Power-hungry."

"That's it!" Alex yelled, "Tell Hank to lead it up Greenwich drive. I know how to stop it." She purposefully placed the Livewire trap on the coffee table, and then threw the blankets off of Kara. She looked at James, "Can you carry her?"

 **Hey y'all, long time-no story.**

 **I want to first apologize to everyone who had been following the story. I did not mean to leave you all hanging, and I appreciate all of you who followed/favorited. I had intended finishing the story last summer, but my brother passed away unexpectedly and I had to step away from some personal activities-this story included.**

 **Second, I want to thank those individuals, you know who you are, for messaging me with words of encouragement. You are all so, so lovely.**

 **I'm in a better place in my life, and I hate to leave the story unfinished.**

 **I'll try to keep within the theme of how it had been going (even though season 2 has an entirely different personality than season 1, I will try to not let that impact the story. Probably wrap up in a chapter or two).**

 **As always, thoughts/comments/concerns/criticisms are always welcome.**

 **Regards.**


	12. Chapter 12

"Then why would it— _they_ —attack Kara when her powers were out?" James asked.

Kara was conscious, but her eyes were closed, her head turned in towards James' chest as he carried her along the sidewalk, briskly trying to match step with Alex, who was going back and forth between fumbling with the Livewire trap and fumbling with Kara's new IV line as they walked.

"They're programmed to. That's why they keep saying all that stuff about the house of El. They're only attacking J'onn because they're hungry—they want the battery in his comm receiver."

"Then why didn't they attack us at the apartment when we charged that lantern?" James asked again. His head was reeling with what Alex had just described to him. _Nanites._ Infinitesimally small robots, that worked in a swarm—like insects—were the culprit of tonight's attacks. A weaponized electromagnetic pulse knocked the power out of everything, and then the nanites had been set loose to search for their now vulnerable target—Kara, but were distracted by their need for constant energy consumption, and were drawn to the re-charged batteries of the communications headsets.

"They didn't realize where the lantern was, but because the receivers transmit via radio waves, the nanites could intercept the disturbances the receivers were creating."

James tried to wrap his head around the whole concept. Someone had built and programmed a swarm microscopic robots to target Kara, only after unleashing a special EMP that would knock out her powers. The nanites were tethered to the city, somehow, though, and could not be lured away from its center. It all seemed a bit like a sci-fi horror film…then again, James looked down at his _alien_ best friend in his arms and shrugged off the notion of 'norm'.

James unintentionally adjusted his grip, causing Kara to hiss and bury her face a little further in his shirt. "Sorry!" he immediately apologized. Alex had packaged Kara the best she could; loading her up with as much kryptonian-approved analgesic as the therapeutic dose would allow, setting her broken arm in a soft cast, and—much to James' horror—replacing her chest tube with appropriate materials and sewing it into place, and dressing her in a zip-up hoodie that had been hung in the deepest depths of her closet.

"We're almost there." Alex reassured as she sadly looked over her sister. Ideally, she would have left Kara and James at the apartment, helped J'onn, trap the nanites, get the power back on, and call for a medevac to appropriately transport Kara back to the DEO. But then again, ideally, none of this would have happened in the first place.

The sound of crunching glass came into earshot.

"We're close enough," Alex instructed, scanning the sky for J'onn, who, based on the sound for city property being destroyed, had to be nearby. She unfolded the blanket she had been carrying onto the bus stop bench beside her, and gestured for James to lay Kara down.

He did so ever so gently as Alex crossed into the road and across the street to the empty lot, eerie in the ominous darkness. James arranged Kara carefully, muttering assurances, "You're going to be okay. We're going to fix this."

Alex laid out the Livewire trap she had altered, and uncoiled the wire that was attached to it. She led the wire back across the street and wrapped the free end of the wire around Kara's splinted hand. "Okay, so Hank is going to lead the swarm here, they're going to hover over the trap, their energy should automatically activate it, and once they're trapped the transformer should convert their potential energy to electromagnetic mechanical energy for you to absorb. It won't be as potent as ultraviolet waves like the sun, but it should get you back on your feet." As she rehashed her plan she worriedly rechecked Kara's wounds.

Kara brought her weak, free hand up and took a hold of Alex's where it was nervously fumbling with the zipper on Kara's hoodie. "Hey," she mouthed, "This is going to work."

In the darkness, Agent Alex Danvers wiped the silhouettes of tears from her eyes, "Yeah."

 _BOOM!_

A—was it a bicycle rack?—crashed through a nearby shop window.

Winn's voice came across Alex's receiver, " _I told you—I told you, I told you to take Greenwich. Alex I told him, he doesn't listen!"_ A blur with a likeness of J'onn Jones appeared from an adjacent street. "Incoming!" his voiced boomed.

Alex rolled her eyes, "Winn, I you don't have to tell me; I'm well aware he doesn't listen."

 _"_ _Mercer has all those traffic lights. I can't believe he didn't kill himself trying to get around them—you know what, I am going to let this go. Alex, you're ready?"_

"The trap is set, tell J'onn to lure them towards the center of the parking lot." Alex watched as J'onn made random loops in the air, avoiding the swarming nanites without losing their interest. She was astounded he had kept up this long.

James rose from his crouch beside the semi-lucid Kara, and watched along with Alex with baited breath.

J'onn's form could be seen in the pale moonlight, diving down towards the center of the lot, then making a sharp turn and ascending again, zig-zagging and running into the sides of the surrounding buildings haphazardly.

Alex shook her head and spoke into the receiver, "No, Winn, tell him he's got to stay within range of the trap for several seconds in order for it to activate."

A second passed before Winn responded, " _Hank says he can't, if he stays still for too long the nanites can overtake him. He's been flying like this for almost an hour, he's got to be exhausted."_

"Dammit." Alex said, casting a look towards James, and then down at Kara.

"What are we gonna do?" James asked.

Alex continued looking at Kara as she took in a deep breath and replied, "You are going to stay here. Watch her, but don't touch her once the current starts flowing from the trapped nanites—the power could kill you, she'll absorb it."

"Alex, what—" James put a cautious hand on her shoulder.

Alex pulled the receiver from her ear and looked at it, turning it over between two fingers. Under her breath, she said, "I'm going to put my comms inside the trap, so the nanites go after it."

"No, Alex, look at that mess, what if you don't get to the trap in time and those thigs decide to rip you to pieces too?" James scolded.

Both of them spoke under a whisper as Kara dazedly stared at their shapes in the dark.

"Why can't Hank just drop his comm?" James asked.

"It has to land inside the trap. The receiver itself won't prime the trap, it has to be opened manually; he won't have time before getting attacked."

"Alex—"

"I'll be back." And she turned and sprinted across the street.

Kara opened her mouth and called after her sister. "No, Alex, wait!"

James knelt, still facing towards the parking lot, and assured Kara, somewhat mechanically, "Shh, it's okay, she'll be right back."

Alex made to the lot and was beside the trap, opening its port when J'onn swooped back down for another go.

The small metal and rubber receiver hit the bottom of the empty trap with a soft _clink!_ as Alex looked up to the sound of rushing wind.

J'onn Jones was hurdling towards her at breakneck speed, surrounded by an aura of buzzing.

She heard and harsh and surprised "DANVERS!" as she got up to run.

From across the street, Kara had herself almost sitting as she watched Alex's starlit silhouette become airborne. Alex made an audible gaging noise—like she'd just run neck first into a clothesline—and she was up and her body was moving in an arc—up, up, up, and then down, down, down.

From the deepest depths of Kara's gut, she managed her very girliest scream, "No!" Suddenly finding the strength to not only sit up, but rise completely to her feet and assume a hurdle-jumper's stance.

And then the Livewire trap lit up like the fourth of July.

Kara's body almost instantaneously locked into place—the wire leading from the transformer on the trap several hundred feet way, was still securely wrapped around her hand. The overwhelming amount of energy stored within the nanites began flowing into her. Her body fell dramatically to the sidewalk. James, for the umpteenth time that night, cried for her, "Kara!", but remembered Alex's instructions, and left her convulsing on the ground.


	13. Chapter 13

Total and absolute darkness. Kara was all-too familiar. Sitting, wedged in her pod, hurdling through space, and looking at the crushing darkness. Out into actual nothingness. Nothingness—a strange concept for a thirteen-year-old to comprehend—a nothingness that could consume.

So, when Kara saw stars, she felt relieved. She opened her eyes to the soft pins of lights, surrounding the ever-worried face of James Olson. He watched her apprehensively, his dark eyes catching the light of the stars.

Kara blinked several times, "Alex?"

…

The first thing Alex remembered was the feeling, like a rope had been tied around her waist and had caught her as she jumped from a building. There had been a sharp yank from somewhere behind her belly button and then the ground disappeared from beneath her. She was rolling and spinning in the air—discarded, unnecessary to the nanites. Her body cartwheeled upward, the electromagnetic field created by the swarm surrounding her, her muscles involuntarily tightening to an impossible contracture. Her face contorted—teeth clenched and mouth locked in a silent scream.

Then suddenly the invisible force was gone as the nanites recognized she no longer had any power to siphon they released her and she was falling. As the swarm dispersed her straining body relaxed and she felt herself blacking out mid-fall. It was funny that in the back of her mind she was calculating what was happening instead of worrying about her body hitting the pavement several stories below. She knew that as the electromagnetic forces dispersed, the ionic sodium and calcium in her muscles would return to equilibrium; the blood that had been forced into extracellular spaces when her muscles contracted flooded back into her capillaries; her blood pressure plummeted and she was fainting. Fainting and falling.

So, when she opened her eyes one could imagine her confusion. It was dark. She wasn't dead—at least she was fairly sure. She was cold, though. _Shock_? she thought. The wind roared in her ears. _Was she still falling?_

But when impact did not come, she blinked hard, trying to clear away the darkness and the cobwebs. "Sir?" she was face to face with the neck, shoulder, and blue-green jawline of J'onn Jones.

"Agent Danvers." He responded, shifting her a little in his arms, "That was impressively stupid."

Alex looked around and came to the realization that he was holding her, above the National City skyline. Forty or fifty meters below them in the center of the empty parking lot, was the Livewire trap, closed and giving off a small illumination as well as a soft humming noise that it was engaged. Across the street from that, James Olson was helping Kara to her feet after she unwound the wire from her wrist.

"It worked," Alex exhaled. She looked up again at her boss, making the connection that he had just caught her from becoming an Alex-pancake, "Thank you, J'onn."

He gave a tight-lipped nod, "I'd say anytime, but let's keep these instances to a minimum."

"Agreed." Alex relaxed as he began descending towards the ground.

…

Kara, despite James' protests, unzipped her hoodie and gave the chest tube a solid yank. "Ow!" she hissed as it came free, the hole between her ribs slowly sewing itself together in its absence.

"Take it easy, Kar." James automatically began to zip up the hoodie. She gave him a look—one that was indescribable –her features soft and child-like, but somewhat guilty, but it was all detracted from because all he could see was the reflection of the stars in her eyes. "Um." His hands had stopped moving and Kara cleared her throat a little to bring him to the realization that she was laying there on the sidewalk, and he was dressing her.

"Oh!" He yanked his hands away, "Uh, sorry."

Kara brushed it off, "Can you help me up?"

"Are you sure?"

"Mm-hmm."

For the second time that night James liquidly placed Kara on her feet. He watched her tentatively, "Are you okay?"

Kara's face was still scrunched a little in discomfort, "Like…ninety-five percent."

He caught her as she began to sink to one knee, "Ah! Okay, like maybe seventy percent." James maneuvered her to sit on the bus stop bench.

"Kara?" Alex's voice came to her.

Kara looked up to see J'onn Jones—mid transform back into Hank Henshaw—as he set Alex on the ground. Alex was not very steady on her feet—her limbs ached—but she made it awkwardly to her sister.

"Alex, are you okay?" Kara asked.

"Yeah, fine, just worried about you." And she began to look over Kara.

James gave Hank a handshake as he approached, "Is that it? Is it over?"

As the words left James' mouth there was a soft hum, followed by the streetlights coming on.

Hank looked around him and offered a rare grin, "It would appear so. Good work, everyone."

A small screech sounded loud enough for everyone to hear. Hank jumped a little and tore his communications receiver from his ear as Winn's voice ranted, _"Oh yeah, fine job. I didn't do anything—"_ Hank ran a hand over his face, "Yes, yes, you too, Mr. Schott."

Alex inspected Kara, noting that the stitches she had placed in her head had seemingly dissolved, leaving not even a scar. "How do you feel, Girl of Steel?"

Kara sat up a little straighter, catching her big sister's hand in her own and looked up with soft, vulnerable eyes, "…I'm freaking starving."

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Kara had eaten her weight in peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches and Luna bars—the only thing the staffroom at the DEO had to offer, and she was now snoring rather unattractively in her sunbed. James was stretched out on a borrowed trauma bay bed in the same room, and Winn was on the floor in between them.

Alex stood in the doorway. Hank approached her, "Sure you don't want to join the Superfriends' slumber party?"

Alex smiled, "Maybe in a little while, sir. I've still got one more thing to do."

"Agent Danvers, I think you've done quite enough for one night. You should get some rest."

"It won't take a minute." She started to walk towards the locker room to get changed into something a little more typical. Though she did just help save the city while wearing her pajamas.

"And what's that?" Hank called after her.

"I've got an arrest to make."

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The church was dark and big and dramatic. Fitting.

Alex Danvers had not spent a significant amount of her life believing in a higher power, but she respected the notion. In childhood, she had watched Kara pray to her own god. Kara was very open with her beliefs, and encouraged Alex to keep an open mind, and even said she did not mind that Alex watched her prayers—but Alex felt like she was watching something private, like seeing someone naked—faith was a level of intimacy she could not bear to subject herself to.

But as she walked into the church, now it was nearly five in the morning, she did not feel uncomfortable. In the vestibule, she stopped and lit a candle, even.

She did not have to walk in very far after that; she took a seat beside the figure in the very last pew.

"Well, that was short lived. How'd you find me?" Maxwell Lord did not take his eyes from the stained-glass mosaic of the crucifixion at the front of the church.

"Well," Alex exhaled, leaning back in the pew, "You always have considered yourself a god amongst men. You must feel at home here."

He bowed his head and smiled, "How did you know it was me?"

"I'll hand it to you, Max. The nanites were a pretty good indicator, but the EMP was downright clever. I mean, you had to build that entire Eco-tech building just to mask it. It's a hub for a full spectrum of electromagnetic waves, isn't it?" This plan had to have been years in the making.

"Color me impressed. Tell me, how's Supergirl?"

"You'll be disappointed to know that she is absolutely fine." She refused to give him that satisfaction of knowing anything else.

He was running his fingers across the back of the opposite hand "No," he insisted, thoughtfully, "I'm glad Kara's okay. I suppose you won't believe me if I told you I had good reasons?"

"I don't give a _damn_ what your reasons were, Max." She allowed her emotions to spit like venom for the briefest of seconds, and then composed herself. "You're under arrest, Max. You need to come with me."

"No cuffs?"

"I think you'll believe me when a say if you try to get away, you're going to need an EMT. So, no, no cuffs." The softness of her voice, just above a whisper, was the most intimidating resonance Max had ever heard.

He nodded, "Very well," and finally picked up his gaze to look her in the eyes, "And Alex?"

She moved to stand up, but met his gaze as he said, what some might consider sincerely, "I'm sorry about our date."

...

THE END

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 **Well, y'all, lucky number thirteen-the thirteenth chapter is where this story ends. It's been one heck of a ride, and I hope y'all enjoyed reading this, as much as I enjoyed writing it. It may have ended differently, if I had finished last July, who's to say? But I'm happy with how it turned out, and I hope you are too.**

 **I can't thank you all enough for the kindness, encouragement, and sense of community you have shown.**

 **Who know's, maybe this isn't my only story to come. But until then, El Maraya y'all.**


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